Saturday, May 26, 2012

King of Italy

‘Upon
the 11th of April, Napoleon, with his Empress, set off to go through
the form of coronation, as King of Italy!The ceremony almost exactly resembled that by which he had been
inaugurated Emperor.The ministry of the
Pope, however, was not employed on this second occasion, although, as Pius VII
was then on his return from Rome, he could scarcely have declined officiating,
if he had been requested by Buonaparte to take Milan in his route for that purpose…the
ministry of the Archbishop of Milan was held sufficient for the occasion, and
it was he who blessed the celebrated iron crown, said to have girded the brows
of the ancient Kings of the Lombards.Buonaparte,as in the ceremony at
Paris, placed the ancient emblem on his head with his own hands, assuming and
repeating aloud the haughty motto attached to it by its ancient owners, Dieu me
l’a donne; Gare qui la touché.“God has
given it me; Let himbeware, who touches it.”…’

From Scott’s “Life of Napoleon”.Napoleon’s coronation as King of Italy took
place on May 26, 1805.